Aldi has boosted its lead on the other three major supermarket chains in the customer satisfaction stakes according to the latest research.
The Roy Morgan Supermarket Satisfaction report found that 89.7 per cent of Aldi customers agreed they were satisfied with the supermarket overall.
However, both Coles and Woolworths came within one percentage point of the German giant in November last year, making it the closest customer satisfaction race in five years, according to the report.
The market research company also noted that all are “still within striking distance of the discount titan”.
According to the report, the only major supermarket to improve its satisfaction ranking in 2012 was Woolworths at 87.4 per cent, followed by Coles at 86.2 per cent and IGA at 83.7 per cent.
Roy Morgan Research's industry communications director, Norman Morris, said 2012 was an interesting year for supermarket satisfaction, with “long-time leader Aldi almost toppled from the top of the podium”.
“Late 2012 also saw Woolworths edge ahead of Coles for the first time since 2010, reaching a five-year high in their satisfaction result.
“Meanwhile satisfaction with Coles is continuing to trend downward from its peak just shy of 90 per cent a year ago,” he said.
He said the Supermarket Satisfaction report also looked at how satisfied ‘bigger-basket’ grocery buyers are, which means those customers with an average weekly spend above $200. In this category, he said, Woolworths is ahead of Aldi and more than three percentage points in front of Coles.
“Satisfaction is naturally a crucial battleground in the supermarket wars. Dissatisfied customers are unlikely to continue to shop at a particular supermarket if they have an alternative, and even worse are likely to ‘spread the word’ about their dissatisfaction. Therefore monitoring satisfaction levels is paramount to understanding where loyalties lie and how customers of different ages, basket sizes or neighbourhoods rate their supermarket of choice,” he said.
